


Before the Fever Breaks

by Mister_Spock



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:41:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22860418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mister_Spock/pseuds/Mister_Spock
Summary: After the incident with Patrick, there's a lot of concern over what happened to him. With everyone's nerves on edge, the last thing they need is someone else getting sick.
Kudos: 1





	Before the Fever Breaks

**Author's Note:**

> I've taken liberties with where episode 1 left off and won't be going the path that we know the show's going to go with the aftermath of what happened with Patrick.  
> Shameless Daryl h/c.

"Knock knock," Carol said as she peered around the corner of the cell.

It was late in the evening and Barbara, one of the other women who helped with cooking more often than not had told Carol that Daryl hadn't been down for anything.

Carol had a habit of making sure Daryl was fed. She'd done it during the winter months when the group had left the farm and struggled every day. He'd be the first to avoid getting any food, finding a way to make the others forget that he hadn't eaten.

Not Carol, though.

She'd made it her own personal goal to make sure she watched out for him. She knew he could take care of himself, that missing an occasional meal when things were tight wasn't the worst thing, not if it meant Lori and Carl had a little bit more, and she recognised the importance it gave Daryl to do that, so she'd never allowed herself to stifle his way of helping, she just had to make sure he didn't let himself go without for too long.

He was a lot better since they got to the prison.

Food was never such a pressing issue, not with so many more people to help on runs. So, there was no reason for Daryl to miss a meal. Not any more.

Daryl peered round to her as he lay facing away from the door on his bunk. Some of the others had ripped the prison beds out, bought in something more comfortable, but Daryl hadn't bothered with that.

He didn't see the point. Didn't see this as a place they could stay forever and if they had to sleep outside again one day, he didn't want to miss the comfort of a soft mattress.

No, for him, the prison bed would do.

"Hey," he said in greeting, voice laced with tiredness.

"Barbara said you missed dinner, so I thought I best bring it to you."

Daryl grunted and turned back from her. Carol's brow creased in concern. "What's wrong? Not hungry?"

"I'm more tired than hungry. Got that run tomorrow. Sleep won out." he muttered, voice muffled as his face seemed to be squashed into a pillow.

"I can leave it here for you if you want. You might get hungry in the night. Or you can have it for breakfast."

"'kay," Daryl replied.

"Night," she said, heading back to her own cell.

* * *

Carol had watched that morning as Daryl and Michonne went out for a run.

They were scouting a possible future run, but they wanted to make sure there were no obstacles on the road and see if they needed to prepare anything else for a smooth run before a larger group headed out there.

Daryl had headed over to her, gave her back the bowl before he headed out.

She hadn't seen him since then. She'd been busy enough herself. Since the incident with Patrick turning, she'd become even more determined to help the other children take care of themselves. So she planned that maybe one on one sessions with some of the kids might be easier.

She had Judith for a little while in the afternoon so that Rick and Carl could tend to the crops and animals and then she'd patched some holes in some of her clothes.

Sadie was on dinner duty that evening and it was nice to have a break from it all. She enjoyed sitting outside while the children played, chatted with some of the others and just relax for a little while.

The walkers at the fence had been thinned out now and it was a relief that they weren't having to use as many people to watch it.

The sight of Michonne strolling across the prison grounds made Carol excuse herself from the others she sat with.

She hadn't realised they were back and headed to Daryl's cell to see if he was there.

Carol looked through to Daryl's cell door and saw the hunter was in bed again, much like he had been the night before when she came to see him.

His back was to the wall this time though and she stepped into the room, seeing he was asleep. She went over to the bed, crouched down beside him, frown present as she looked at Daryl's sweaty brow.

It was fairly cool and she carefully reached out her hand and touched his brow.

He was burning up with a fever.

"Daryl?" she called, worriedly.

He opened his eyes, bleary strips of blue shining through bright glazed eyes. "Wha-" he mumbled, barely coherently.

"You're sick," she told him matter of factly.

"'m jus' tired," he replied.

"I'm gonna get Hershel," she said, not asking him as she quickly left the room and went to find the vet.

* * *

2.

"Michonne?" Rick called across the yard.

The woman stopped on her way to the cells and waited for Rick to catch up with her. "What's up?" she asked.

She'd spoken to him earlier about heading out again, searching for The Governor once more and she was keen to get going.

"Can you put off going out for a little while."

She nodded but her eyes grew concerned. "What's wrong?"

* * *

Rick and Michonne went into the library where Carol held her storytime readings with the kids and waited for the last few people that they'd asked to turn up.

Along with The Greene's and Glenn, Rick had gathered, Carl, Tyresse, Sasha and Karen, the people that had been with them the longest from the Woodbury rescue. The only people missing were Daryl and Carol who the others would expect to be there.

When everyone was gathered, Hershel started. "As you all know, we lost Patrick last night. He was found in D block this morning. After he was checked over, we found no bite marks so we can assume that a walker wasn't responsible. What we do know is that before his death, Patrick had told Carol he wasn't feeling well. Several of the other children at storytime confirmed this, said he asked to leave. A few others in D also said they heard someone coughing a lot last night. Johnathan also said that he thought he saw Patrick earlier in the evening, looking pale and sweaty. Not well at all, it seems."

"We already know all this," Sasha pressed. "What's going on?"

"Hershel's saying that this might be a sickness that can be spread to all of us," Rick said cutting to the point.

"Someone else is sick?" Carl asked, looking up to his Father.

Rick nodded. "Daryl," he confirmed, staring blankly at the wall just beyond Glenn. He could look at Carl at that moment.

A couple of conversations burst out then, as people started to talk to and over one another in a mild panic.

"We don't know anything," Hershel reminded them all, speaking loud enough to quieten them all before continuing at a normal level. "As no one was keeping tabs on Patrick, we can't be sure of what symptoms he went through. We know at some point, he bleeds from his eyes, nose, mouth and ears too. All we know is whatever he had proved to be fatal. We can't say that Daryl has the same thing. We can't say that he doesn't."

"So what can we do?"

"I'm open to suggestions," Hershel said.

"Is he contagious then?" Beth asked. "Daryl, I mean?"

"We really don't know. It's best that we limit who comes into contact with him."

"You saw Daryl earlier," Maggie said, fear rising inside of her for her younger sister. Glenn held her hand a little tighter.

Beth nodded.

"If it's spread though touch then we're all screwed." Michonne rationed.

"Carol informed me that Daryl shook hands with Patrick earlier on, but I don't have any idea if that is related."

"So what do we do?" Karen asked.

"For now, we keep this to ourselves. We don't need to worry anyone about this unless we know we have a problem."

"And we won't know that until when Daryl dies?" Beth asked, clearly upset.

"If it is the same thing, he doesn't have a chance?" Sasha asked, directing the question to Hershel.

"It may be that Patrick was more susceptible to whatever it is. Daryl's an adult with better immunity. It may be enough."

"Do we need some supplies?" Michonne asked.

"I'm working on a list. If we can find some medical supplies, now would be the time," Hershel said.

"I'll so with you," Glenn volunteered.

Tyresse looked to Karen before adding, "Me too."

She frowned at him but stayed quiet. Seeing her look he smiled a little and shrugged. "Man's life is at risk. I might hate it out there but I'll hate myself a lot more if I don't go."

She smiled at him for those words, for the gesture. She loved his kindness more than anything else about him.

"Want me to come?" Maggie asked Glenn.

"Hershel? You need her here?" Glenn asked.

"Better off going with them. You have a better knowledge of the things I might need."

"If it's medical supplies then I'll come and pair up with Bob. I'm not sure on him going without a chaperone just yet," Sasha said. "But he should be able to think of things that can help. We can fill him in with a need to know stuff on the way."

Hershel nodded. "Rick, Carol's with Daryl at the moment. Considering we don't know how serious this could be, she won't leave the room, so we'll need someone to take over from her later on, check up on her so she can take a break."

"I'll do it," Rick said without a moment's hesitation. "We should get going. We don't know how long..." he cut himself off. "I'll go check on Carol," he said, before leaving.

* * *

Rick found himself lingering outside Daryl's cell, not wanting to step inside and face reality.

After enough time pacing around outside, Carol stepped out, just stood outside of the door. She had pulled the mask down away from her nose and mouth and it rested against her chest.

Her expression was glum, her eyes downcast with a sadness Rick felt he reflected right back to her.

"You want to go and see him?" she asked.

"I don't know," Rick answered.

"He looks okay," Carol said. She shrugged, corner of her lip upturned into a small smile. "Just in case you don't get to see him again..."

"Stop," Rick said. He looked towards the cell but wasn't able to see Daryl from where he stood. "I'll watch him tonight. If you're okay until then. I'll see if someone can take my watch shift. A bunch of the others have gone to get some supplies..."

"Could you watch him just while I go to my room for a few minutes?"

Rick nodded.

Carol reached into the cell and passed Rick a pencil and pad. "Hershel wants notes on his temperature every 15 minutes. And anything else that happens. Everything. Every detail. Just in case it might help. I won't be gone that long but there are only about 5 minutes until the next reading and I might not be back by then."

She picked up a bandana and gave it to Rick. "Best wear this."

Rick nodded and took the items from her, stepped into the cell as he heard Carol walking away. He tied the mask over his nose and mouth before he dragged the chair closer to Daryl's bedside. The chair made a loud scraping noise across the floor and Daryl woke with a start, confused, started eyes searching the room for something.

Rick placed a hand on Daryl's chest and gently pushed him so he was laying down again from where he'd pushed himself up on elbows slightly. Daryl didn't resist Rick's gentle force and was soon flat on the mattress again.

Daryl's bright eyes met Rick's and he could see Daryl's confusion over the mask.

"I was tired of always playing the Sheriff. Decided to be the bandit for once," Rick said, a smile coaxing the corner of his lips.

Daryl smiled back, in a sleepy, slightly delirious way that just reminded Rick how sick Daryl was. He wasn't guarded, wasn't himself at all.

Daryl let his head roll to the side, wet hair plastered on his sweat covered face, and Rick reached across and brushed hairs away from Daryl's closed eyes.

"Thanks, Merle," Daryl muttered.

Rick's hand froze just above Daryl, afraid to do anything. Didn't want to break Daryl's delusion, but he then gently lowered his hand so it rested on the side of Daryl's jaw, his thumb gently rubbing against the stubble underneath. "Get some rest, brother," Rick whispered.

* * *

3.

Rick's night on watch over Daryl proved to be less eventful than he'd feared.

Daryl slept soundly throughout the night, only waking twice, once for the bathroom and another time for water. Both times, Rick had to assist Daryl the whole time. He was grateful Daryl wouldn't remember any of it.

Just before dawn, Daryl's fever started to pick up Rick noted. The last three times he checked it, there was a steady rise before a sudden spike upwards and Rick had rushed to get Hershel, hating the idea of waking the man but not wanting to wait.

Hershel it turned out, hadn't been sleeping deeply, his own thoughts and concerns about everything at the forefront of his mind.

He sent Rick back ahead of him, while he fitted the artificial limb back on before he followed the same path.

Hershel did a quick check over Daryl before deciding they should try and bring his temperature down. He sent Rick to get some water and washcloths. When he returned, the pair pulled back the blankets from Daryl, all soaked through with sweat and lay some on him. Hershel put one across Daryl's forehead, armpits and groin. Hershel pulled one of the thinner blankets back over Daryl, making sure the man didn't get too cold, too quickly.

He watched closely, making sure Daryl didn't shiver. Once he was content they hadn't made Daryl too cold, Hershel sat back.

"You want me to stay with him a while, you look beat son?" he asked Rick, kindly.

Rick let out a sigh. "Who's got next watch with him?"

Hershel shrugged. "Nothing was really sorted. I figured between you, me and Carol we'd pretty much have it covered."

Rick nodded. If he were going to leave Daryl with any other people, he'd want it to be those two. "I guess a couple of hours won't hurt," Rick said.

Hershel nodded in approval and moved to the door. "Get someone to wake me if there's any change. Or you need anything."

"I will," Hershel agreed.

* * *

Rick needed the sleep more than he realised.

So much so that when Judith started to wake, Carl got her before Rick even heard.

But he did hear the frantic voice of Carol, calling his name sometime later. And when he opened his eyes, he saw her worried blue eyes looking down at him.

"Wha.." he started to say.

"It's Daryl," she said before she turned and headed out of the cell.

* * *

**4.**

When Rick entered the cell, the first thing he noticed was blood.

It was on Hershel's hands, covered Daryl's chin as it spilt from his lips, coughing and spluttering propelling droplets all over the blanket that was still draped across Daryl's body.

Hershel had Daryl half propped up a hand on his back supporting his sitting position and another across his chest to stop the man from slumping too far forward. Carol stood by the door at a loss at what to do.

Rick had seen the woman overcome and deal with many things, but this left her motionless- she simply had no idea what to do for the best.

Rick moved past Carol and stood next to Hershel ready to help in any way he could. "Help support his back," Hershel said as he moved both hands to Daryl's chest. Rick moved past Hershel to sit on the edge of the mattress and pillows that were behind Daryl and he sat so he was slightly behind Daryl. "Carol, make sure no one comes in," Rick told her and she slipped through the curtain covering the door and made sure that anyone who was curious about what was happening was able to pass through.

"Just relax," Rick heard Hershel say as he tried to calm the younger man down. The coughs still racked Daryl's body and Rick knew he needed to do something. He gripped underneath Daryl's armpits and carefully pulled him back so that he's back, his fever hot skin and soaked through with sweat back, was pulled plush against Rick's chest. Rick shushed Daryl soothingly as he fought away from him instinctively before Rick leant himself backwards against the wall, giving Daryl a slightly more relaxed position.

It had the desired effect and maybe a minute or two later, Daryl's coughs had calmed. He still coughed a little but nowhere near as intense as before.

Daryl rested against Rick's chest shivering from the exertion the coughing fit had caused him and Rick pulled at a blanket until it was pulled up to just below Daryl's chin. It did little too stop the shudders affecting Daryl's body but he hoped his own body heat would also help. Daryl was burning hot still and Rick felt uncomfortable being so close to him but right now, he didn't matter.

Hershel pulled another of the blankets up to help Daryl, wanting the man to recover somewhat before he was able to take a look at the man. When Daryl was breathing steadily and the coughing had completely subsided, Hershel grabbed a towel and wiped away some of the blood from around Daryl's mouth. Daryl was barely conscious but was still able to comply with Hershel as he poked at the hunter.

Hershel pulled out a small light and looked inside Daryl's mouth, the source of the blood. He was afraid of what he'd find, knowing how Patrick had a bleed at some point before he'd died.

Hershel used the towel to wipe the blood away from inside Daryl's mouth so he could get a better look. He almost felt his heart miss a beat when he looked inside. He saw that Daryl had bitten his tongue rather badly. "Thank Goodness," Hershel said.

"What?" Rick asked anxiously before Hershel could continue.

"He's just biting his tongue." At Rick's visible relief Hershel continued. "That doesn't mean that he's in the clear, just that we don't have to worry just yet."

Rick nodded his understanding. "So what now?"

"I need to stitch this up. He made a real mess here," Hershel said.

Rick helped Hershel while he stitched the wound. It wasn't the easiest thing, but Daryl seemed to do his best to do what was asked of him, trying to bite down on the fingers in his mouth.

Once they'd finished up, Rick moved out from behind Daryl, letting the exhausted man lay down. "Why don't you get some rest and I'll clean him up," Rick said. "Never know if I'll need to call on you again."

Hershel nodded and cleared away his supplies before leaving.

Rick used the towel to wipe some of the remaining blood away from Daryl's face and neck. He discarded the towel and pulled the blankets away from Daryl. He cast the two aside that were stained with blood and dropped them to the ground too. The sheet beneath Daryl was still clean but Rick gently moved one of the pillows out from under him. The blankets had stopped any blood seeping into the fabric of Daryl's shirt. Rick wanted to strip that from the man too, but it seemed unfair to jostle the man around so much when he'd just slipped back into sleep.

He pulled the blanket back up just as Carol popped her head in to see how Daryl was doing.

Her eyes were fixed on Daryl the whole time. "He looks awful," Carol said.

Rick looked at the other man and knew with the red stain of blood still on his skin and the slick wetness too, he couldn't look anything but sick. "Can you get some water and cloths? We can clean him up a little."

She nodded and left to find the things Rick asked her.

When he was left alone again, Rick looked down to Daryl, wiped a hand over his own face as the adrenaline wore off.

That was when he realised he'd not put a mask on when he'd come back in to help Hershel. In fact, neither Hershel or Carol had worn one either.

Rick started to wonder if this is what would kill them all.

* * *

5.

When Michonne, Glenn and the others returned from their run, Maggie was left with Hershel to sort out Daryl while the others waited around together.

Glenn told them of some close calls they had on the run, though nothing was too perilous thankfully, and Rick nodded along, tight-lipped and concerned.

"What is it?" Michonne eventually pushed, seeing almost the exact same worried look on Carol's face.

"Jus' worried about Daryl," Rick said, brushing away her concern.

She shook her head. "Uh-uh. We're all worried about him. here's something else."

Sighing, Rick ran a hand through his hair. "There's was panic earlier, Hershel needed our help with Daryl quickly. None of us wore masks while we were there and he'd been coughing a lot too."

"I didn't wanna say anything earlier," Carl said from where he was hiding in one of the cells, listening to the conversation with Beth. They both came out of the shadows. "I was with Patrick after Daryl, just before he got sick. Am I gonna get it too?"

"We don't know yet. We don't know what causes it. It's all just guesses and 'could be' right now."

"We just have to wait and see," Michonne said.

-

When Daryl opened his eyes, he couldn't quite remember where he was or the last thing that had happened to him.

He had vague recollections of people talking to him, or about him, Hershel calling him 'son' a few times as he took his temperature of forced some pills into his mouth and urged him to sip some water down to take them.

And Rick had been there a lot. Looking worriedly to him. He always looked worried anyway so maybe he had other things on his mind.  
Daryl knew though. Knew he was the cause of his worry this time. And the fact he was flat on his bed with no urge to even move right now told him that something wasn't right with him.

He shifted slightly and saw Carol sat in a chair near his bed. She looked up at his movement and their eyes met.

She waited, watched him.

"Hey," he croaked out, seeing as she didn't seem inclined to speak first.

Her face brightened immediately and she moved over to be beside him. "Hey, I didn't know if you were really with me or not. You've had me going a few times already."

He scrunched his brow a little and she explained further. "Waking up and saying something but you've been out of it again before I even had a chance to reply" she smiled more at the relief she felt seeing his awake. "We've been worried about you getting so sick after Patrick. Seems whatever you got was unrelated to whatever he had. "

Daryl shivered a little, vaguely remembering Patrick turning. "My mouth hurts," he said, tiredly, feeling around in his mouth with his tongue before realising it was his tongue that was hurting.

"You bit your tongue pretty badly. Hershel had to stitch you up."

"S'plains it," Daryl said.

"So you feel better?"

He nodded, thinking about it. He didn't exactly feel like moving right now, but he didn't really ache. He seemed to remember aching a lot last time he was aware of things properly. And he wasn't as tired as he was before, though he could still probably do with a nap.

But he wanted to get up. Wanted to show them he was okay. "Can I get up?" he asked her.

"If you feel like it. Let me get your socks and boots first, you'll freeze otherwise." While Carol found a pair of socks for Daryl he slowly sat up and shifter round on the bed. He let his feet dangle over the end of the mattress and went to lean forward to pull his own socks on when Carol approached. "Let me do it. You'll wear yourself out before you even make it downstairs," she told him.

He didn't want to let her dress him but knew she was right. So he just sat back and didn't think about it as she pulled the socks over his feet before pushing his boots on. She then passed over a shirt that someone had got him from a run at some point. It was one of maybe two that still had sleeves, which Carol knew meant that Daryl just hadn't got round to ripping them away yet. Sleeves seemed to annoy Daryl like no person she'd met before.

"Ready?" she asked him and he nodded, pulling himself to his feet. It didn't take him long to get his bearings once he was vertical and when they got to the bottom of the stairs, Carol leads them to the table where the group would eat together when the weather outside was too harsh.

"Hey, look who's up," Maggie said coming through into the room. She smiled towards Daryl but then distracted herself from the recovering man by looking over a local map spread on the table.

"I'll get us some breakfast," Carol told him as she headed out, leaving him with Maggie.

Maggie twisted the map round so Daryl could see it better and she pointed to a spot someone has marked on it. "We're thinking of checking out this area soon. See if there are any stores worth going over,"

Daryl looked at the map recognised some of the spots they'd hit already. "Take a while to get out there, right?"

She nodded. "Yeah, we're gonna plan it carefully, have a halfway point set up to wait overnight if we have to. You up for it? We're not gonna go until later next week."

"Why such a long wait?"

Maggie looked up from the map and smiled at him. "We're not gonna go out there without you! That's like asking for trouble."

Daryl rolled his eyes at her but was glad they wanted him along. He worried that maybe the runs had gone better since he'd been off of them. He wondered how many they'd done without him already.

oOo

Outside, Carol collected a helping of food for herself and Daryl.

Rick and Hershel were eating their own nearby.

"He's awake then?" Hershel asked. He gathered that the man would wake soon.

"Yeah. Already downstairs."

Rick smiled, relief that Daryl was getting back on his feet already. "I hope he doesn't push himself too much."

"He's already sitting down. And Maggie's with him, going over the map for the run." She said.

They'd already discussed giving Daryl something to set himself to achieve and getting fit and healthy enough for the run was the best motivation they had.

They weren't short of supplies so it wasn't an urgent run, so there was no urgency behind it which was vital. And they hoped that having the run to go on would stop Daryl from pushing himself to do other things that he should leave to the others why he recovered.

"Good. I'll wait until he heads back up to his cell and then give him a quick check, just to make sure."

Carol nodded. "I'll take him some food and make sure he gets back and rests afterwards." She headed back inside, leaving the two men behind.

"I can't tell you how relieved I feel..." Rick said. They knew the last couple of days Daryl was on the mend, but there was still that fear.

"You don't need to tell me," Hershel said, sharing the sentiment. "Although, it might be nice for someone else to hear it."

Rick nodded and smiled.

Hershel was right. Daryl needed to hear that.

Just not right now.

As soon as he was back in his cell alone, Rick would tell him.

Make sure he knew how important he was to them, to the group.

To their family.

And then Rick would rest well too.


End file.
